Pierre Jalbert

American composer Pierre Jalbert has earned widespread attention for his richly coloured and superbly crafted scores which paint vibrant sonic portraits for the listener through a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and “immediately captures one’s attention with its strong gesture and vitality” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources from plainchant melodies to natural phenomena and his French-Canadian heritage, his music has been commissioned and performed worldwide by artists and institutions including the Boston Symphony, London Symphony, the Los Angeles and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, the Symphonies of Houston, Cincinnati, Budapest, Vermont, Albany, and Milwaukee, the National Symphony, and the Cabrillo and Eastern Festival Orchestras among others. Hailed as an “acknowledged chamber-music master” by The New Yorker, his chamber music has been commissioned and performed by Midori, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Escher, Emerson, Ying, Del Sol, Chiara, and Borromeo String Quartets, Music from Copland House, Morgenstern Trio, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, Chatter, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.
Known for his “rhapsodic and skilfully written” (The New York Times) music, his discography features recordings by David Finckel and Wu Han, his Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Margaret Batjer as soloist, Kinetic, the Jupiter, Pro Arte and Ying Quartets, and the Music from Copland House ensemble.
Among his many honours are the Rome Prize, the BBC Masterprize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Fromm Foundation commission, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Stoeger Award, given biennially “in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory”, and an Academy award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Jalbert has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, California Symphony under Barry Jekowsky, and Chicago’s Music in the Loft. He is Professor of Composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, and his music is published by Schott Music.

Escher String Quartet

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received critical acclaim, with comments such as “…eloquent, full-blooded playing… The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2019, Dance, an album of quintets with Grammy award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was enthusiastically received. The Escher’s most recent recording, the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber, was met with equal excitement, including “A fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine). The ensemble has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014.
The Escher Quartet has held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and the University of Akron, Ohio and takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher.

Carol Wincenc
Flute

Called “Queen of the Flute” by New York magazine, Carol Wincenc delights audiences with her charismatic presence, high virtuosity, and heartfelt musicality. Beginning her illustrious career as the sole Grand Prize flute winner of the renowned Naumburg Competition, she has concertized on five continents, and loves nothing more than “giving back” to communities worldwide. Beloved as concerto soloist, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, devoted chamber music performer, and professor-mentor to now luminaries in the flute world, she has also been the muse for our era’s legendary composers.
Carol’s remarkable career has elevated the status of the flute as a solo instrument through the extraordinary range of her performances with world-renowned ensembles and fellow soloists, awards, commissioning of over 50 new works in multiple genres written by leading composers and teaching countless students who have followed in her footsteps.
She has appeared as soloist with major orchestras worldwide, including the Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and London symphonies, the BBC, Warsaw, and Buffalo Philharmonics, as well as the Los Angeles, Stuttgart, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras. In great demand as a chamber musician, Ms. Wincenc has collaborated with such celebrated ensembles as the Emerson, Tokyo, Guarneri, Cleveland, Juilliard, and Escher String Quartets, and performed with Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma. She has enjoyed residencies and performances at countless festivals, including Mostly Mozart, Aldeburgh, Budapest, Frankfurt, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Music at Menlo, Aspen, Yale/Norfolk, Sarasota, Banff, and Marlboro. She is a current member of the New York Woodwind Quintet and a founding member of Les Amies with New York Philharmonic Principals, harpist Nancy Allen and violist Cynthia Phelps. Her newest, exciting collaboration, Duo Coquelicot, is with renowned Boston based cellist, Velleda Miragias.